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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

The Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Dispersal Pilot Plant [WIPP] in Carlsbad, New Mexico has a System of Systems design flaw which virtually guarantees that even a moderate underground fire affecting the nuclear waste will cause the facility to lose power, resulting in a massive uncontrolled release of Plutonium and Americium.

This exact catastrophic situation had started to occur during the Valentine's day nuclear fire at the WIPP facility; when by the GRACE OF GOD, elevated wind speeds spun up and reduced the airborne Americium cloud's radioactive density. This act of Divine Providence served to lessen the Americium's ionization interaction with WIPP's electrical substation to the point where the electrical arc flashes were noted but power loss reportedly did not occur.

WIPP's System of System (SOS) design flaw is as follows:

1) WIPP's electrical substation is located directly next to the mine's ventilation exhaust (see map below)

2) In event of nuclear fire, Ionizing Plutonium and Americium are discharged directly into the electrical substation

3) WIPP underground Continuous Air Monitor(s) are not placed to detect radiation in the 6+ foot cavernous air space floating above the underground worker's heads (more detail in the video)

4) As happened on Valentine's day, Item 3 resulted in at least an hour long period of UNDETECTED Plutonium and Americium being discharged into WIPP's electrical substation, resulting in arc flashing.

5) Americium is known for its ability to ionize air and cause electrical discharges (it is used in smoke detectors for exactly this purpose)

6) Americium and Plutonium discharging into the electrical substation will (and did) cause arc flashing, and the result is likely to cause the substation to lose power

7) Power loss at WIPP equates to uncontrolled ventilation of the mine and an inability to evacuate workers

8) Uncontrolled ventilation during a fire means loss of containment, as demonstrated by the February 5th underground fire at WIPP

Aggravating factors:

1) Difficult salt related environmental conditions at WIPP make it nearly impossible to operate real time underground radioactive air monitoring without a high level of perceived false radioactive alarms. It is exactly this condition which caused site employees to disregard the veracity of the radiation alarm until 11 hours after it sounded (when secondary manual readings confirmed the release).

2) WIPP's plan to further increase underground ventilation rates makes real time underground detection even more difficult, and increases the chances of undetected stagnation pooling of radioactive materials at the electrical substation during no wind conditions.

Conclusion:

The MidWest nearly became uninhabitable on Valentine's Day, had wind speeds not picked up at the plant the facility would have lost power. It is possible the nuclear fire would have become naturally ventilated and uncontrolled, much like what happened on February 5th when an underground vehicle caught fire.

In that same light, had the February 5th underground vehicle fire occurred in a nuclear waste storage area, the resulting burning nuclear materials would have released enough Americium to cause the electrical substation to shut down. That loss of power would have made it impossible to evacuate and or ventilate the underground. That loss of control would have resulted in the entire Midwest being contaminated in enough Plutonium and Americium that even the DOE would have a hard time covering it up.

As it stands now, the Department of Energy has not publicly recognized any of these deadly design deficiencies; its unclear if they are acting out of incompetence or some twisted greater good concept rationalizing the risk away for National Security reasons. But one thing is for sure, if DOE does not relocate and / or further risk mitigate WIPP's substation the entire Midwest remains at risk.

UPDATE: 5/1/2014

We've found a Youtube video that shows the Americium electrical discharge effect on a small scale, what you see in the video embedded below is precisely what caused the "GREEN BURST" in WIPP's electrical substation when Americium and Plutonium were exhausted out of the mine into the electrical substation

Monday, April 28, 2014

Based on our analysis of the US Department of Energy's [DOE] Accident Investigation Report, the first indication of a massive radioactive release from the WIPP facility occurred at 10:50pm on 2/14/2014 when a radioactive cloud of weapons grade Americium and Plutonium became so massively concentrated above WIPP's electrical sub-station that an electrical "GREEN BURST" was triggered via the radioactively ionized air.

That electrical substation is located directly next to the underground mine's exhaust shaft. WIPP's electrical substation ended up functioning exactly like a screaming Geiger counter. with each pop and "green burst" telling people to get the hell out of there. The radioactively ionized air allowed electrical arcing to occur across the substation resulting in WIPP's site security reporting that electrical "GREEN BURST". It is the scientific principal Geiger counters are based upon.

Americium is known to cause exactly this electrical discharge effect. That effect is why Americium is used in smoke detectors to produce a continuous state of ionization and electrical discharge, which when interrupted by smoke particles causes an alarm to sound. Unfortunately WIPP's personnel didn't recognize what that "green burst" and those "arcing noises" meant. Moreover if DOE recognized what happened at the substation, they are not admitting it. We believe DOE only included its mention because they had to explain why the Facility Site Manager [FSM] was near the exhaust shaft ready to manually turn on the HEPA filters when the underground alarm sounded. But who can blame DOE for seemingly hiding the facts? After all National Security is at risk if WIPP shuts down, not to mention the millions of dollars of legal claims the Government will have to settle if those Security guards and that Site manager get good lawyers.

Unfortunately, little did WIPP's site security and the FSM know that the GREEN BURST" they were responding to was drawing them in like insects to a bug zapper. Sadly, these people now face a long, slow and agonizing death from that radioactive cloud. A cloud which was thought to be a false alarm until nearly 11 hours later, by which time these people were sent home without any radiation testing taking place.

At this point those of you have have read DOE's Accident Investigation Report (see links below), should ask why the underground {CAM] Continuous Air Monitor RAM-31 Radiation Detector didn't Alarm until 23 minutes after that "GREEN BURST" was first noticed at the electrical substation. The simple answer is that the substation was appropriately sized to instantaneously respond to the concentration of Americium and Plutonium present.

On the other hand, the underground CAM, only samples a very small volume of a very large movement of air. The sampling size and rate is unlikely to be suitable to rapidly detect such a release. The detection is also highly dependent on the location of the CAM's small air intake. Photos from WIPP indicate that CAM air intake is located about 5-6 feet above floor level, while the height of the tunnels are around 12 feet tall. Since the Plutonium / Americium release was likely driven by an exothermic reaction (fire / explosion), radioactive materials would have been flowing like invisible smoke at the top portion of the tunnels, in other words they were floating out of reach of the CAM's air intake. A situation akin to hanging your smoke detector half way up a wall instead of on the ceiling(see CAM photo)

Eventually enough radioactivity fell low enough in the tunnel that the CAM was able to detect the radioactive build up on its filters. (note the CAM automatically changes filters and is non functional during change overs). That detection triggered a switch over from a high speed mine ventilation rate of 260,000 CFM to a much lower speed of 60,000 CFM, suitable for the HEPA filters. But unlike which was claimed over and over again to reassure the public, that slower air was not directed into the HEPA filters until after Facility Site Manager manually turned air flow diverter valves at the mine's exhaust. That manual activation happened at approximately 11:25pm, eleven minutes after the CAM alarm sounded and thirty-five minutes after the "GREEN BURST" was noticed at the above ground electrical sub-station.

So, the CAM did eventually detect the underground radiation, but not before a massive cloud of Americium and Plutonium had been released into the environment. A recording of the CAM's reading is shown below, note that the radiation levels were so high that the detector malfunctioned. The drop off at 11:42pm is indicative of detector saturation, aka a sampling rate error that made the system read erroneously low. At that time the CAM alerted the operator to the malfunction and the operator reportedly shut off the alarm, but not the CAM as it kept producing readings. Note the alarm's set-point was 30 DAC, and the radioactive count went into the hundreds of thousands.

Looking at the above chart, the original alarm setpoint of 30 DAC (Bq*M^3)/Hour which occurred at 11:13pm is barely noticeable. By 11:21pm the effect of the reduced ventilation fan speed triggered at 11:14pm is becoming noticeable. This effect occurs because the radioactive smoke is now being released into a smaller volume of air, thusly making it more detectable. By 11:25pm the impact of the HEPA filters on the air flow is coming into full effect. Simultaneously the lower airflow and reduced oxygen supply is making the radioactive fire burn less efficiently and with more smoke. By 12:35am the HEPA filters began to clog as a result. WIPP workers notice a similar Smokey occurrence during the non-radioactive Feb 5th fire when normal ventilation was switched to HEPA, the thin high level smoke turned black and began lowering from the ceiling, filling the mine with smoke and causing the workers to choke. Had workers been underground during the the Feb 14th event the switch to HEPA filters would have turned that smoke inhalation into radiation poisoning.

As for the Carlsbad and all the people downwind of WIPP, the 2/14/14 Nuclear fire was much worse than is being reported by the DOE, and it happened at least an hour earlier than DOE has postulated. All in all the DOE report is extremely poor in analysis and those that submitted it should be ashamed. It is clear that DOE is doing all it can to under report what happened at WIPP, and their mathematical obfuscation of the environmental radiation levels based on technical procedures which peanut butter out radioactive concentration over the sampling period instead of the incident occurrence time frame is unconscionable and sinful.

It is obvious to the POTRBLOG team that WIPP is unsafe for its workers and the public, and that it will remain so until the true issues are addressed.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

The video embedded below reports that 3 members of a Ukrainian Alpha team have been captured by pro-Russian forces in Donetsk.The strongest give away of the legitimacy of the video is the capture of a 9x19mm Heckler & Koch USP pistol, as that pistol is carried by Ukraine's Alpha team and it is not a weapon we would expect to be found in ordinary use by military forces in the region.

It is unclear if the individuals pictured truly are captured members of Ukraine's Alpha team, however it is abundantly clear that Alpha team equipment and documents were likely captured. If these individuals are captured Alpha team members, it is a very strong indicator of how deeply Ukraine's military is infiltrated by Russian Intelligence.

Friday, April 25, 2014

While DOE, WIPP, and CERMC were reporting otherwise, the POTRBLOG team was reporting that the HEPA filtration system at the WIPP facility had to be manually activated after the Plutonium explosion causing a massive unfiltered release to the environment and contamination of the workers who had to go outside and manually activate WIPP's HEPA system.

We based our analysis on the mathematical data released and insider information from the WIPP plant. FINALLY MONTHS LATER, a DOE investigator presenting WIPP's accident investigation report CONFIRMED OUR REPORT.

That confirmation came at the Wipp Town Hall Meeting 4/23/14 at approximately 1 hour 5 minutes and 25 seconds after the meeting started. Watch the Video linked below and fast forward to 1:05:25 to hear and see the confirming remarks.http://new.livestream.com/rrv/wipptownhall7

Our early findings are best summarized in the video we released 3/12/14 which we have embedded below; we are now planning a follow up video.

Short to say; our opinion is that those officials who were reassuring the public that the HEPA system activated automatically and rapidly, while knowing otherwise should face jail time. Moreover our opinion is that those who may claim not to have known but should have known from the math / data, that those persons should never be allowed to operate in any matter involving public safety ever again.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

A video was posted on Youtube of a very long line of Russian BPM-90 "tanks" moving down a rural road in Russia near the Ukrainian border (see below). Based on visual clues in the video we used Google maps to identify the exact location of that "tank" column near the Novoshakhtinsk, Russia border crossing point with Ukraine.

If you explore the above map you can see that the BPM 90 column is basically positioning to move itself on the most expedient route towards Dontesk, Ukraine. Russia now needs this land mass to have a direct connection to the Crimean Peninsula which it recently annexed.

At this point it seems the only think that could be done to stop the take over is to declare Ukraine an "instant" member of NATO. If Russian caught wind of such a plan they would make an all out push to enter Ukraine prior to such an announcement. In that light, if you need new car tires, or any sort of Russian Caliber ammunition now would be the time to buy those things.

Unfortunately contrary to our Founding Fathers sage advice, we have made long term entangling alliances with Foreign powers while simultaneously bungling our capability to effectively execute those alliances. Dumb and Dumber.

Monday, April 21, 2014

Seems the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] is either planning the worlds largest deer hunt or they are expecting to deal with a significant level of rioting, as they just released an order for 25 MILLION rounds of 12 gauge ammo. Of course, its also possible that DHS just doesn't want you to have easy access to 12 gauge ammo for the same reasons.

Specifically, today (4/21/14) DHS released an order for 25 Million 12 gauge shotgun shells. of which 15 million are 12 gauge slugs and the remaining 10 million are 00 buck 12 gauge shells. Just screams deer hunting doesn't it?

Obviously such a large governmental order will reduce public availability of 12 gauge ammo, especially when one considers that the "RIO" shotgun ammunition production facility in Tennessee just had a rather large explosion, resulting in 1 fatality and multiple injuries.

So, maybe its also possible that DHS just doesn't want you to have easy access to 12 gauge ammo for the very same reasons they are ordering so much of it.

Friday, April 11, 2014

On April 8th Congress was informed by the the Department of Defense [DoD] that because of emerging threats JBAIDS hemorrhagic fever assays have been deployed to National Guard units of all 50 States.

. "By partnering with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command and the Food and Drug Administration, we have made accessible additional diagnostic assays for high
consequence, low probability biological threat agents for use during declared public
health emergencies. This collaboration has facilitated the availability of viral hemorrhagic fever diagnostic assays for use during a declared emergency and adds
previously unavailable preparedness capabilities to this fielded system...

......To address the need for a near term capability to combat emerging threat materials,
we have already provided Domestic Response Capability kits to the National Guard weapons of mass destruction civil support teams resident in all 50 states. These
kits provide emerging threat mitigation capability that includes detection, personnel
protection, and decontamination."

It is unclear how real or imminent the threat may be, but it is clear that a massive surge of Governmental spending and preparedness has occurred since Hemorrhagic H7N9 Bird Flu came on the scene in 2013 and those preparedness activities are accelerating as EBOLA has started to gain momentum in Africa. (see links below)

There are multiple vignettes one could put forth for these governmental activities ranging from simple wasteful defense spending, to airborne mutated EBOLA, or an expected biological first strike prelude to WW3. The preparations seem to lean towards the latter.

Rather than worry about the situation, the best course of action is be aware of the unusual military equipment which would be utilized in a defense situation, as such information will provide leading edge risk mitigation actionable information to threats that may result in mass panic or mass quarantine.

In that regard, spotting the field use of the biomedical equipment shown below is an extremely strong indicator that a Biodefense operation is underway. Pay special attention to the JBAIDS device shown below, its presence at any medical or field facility is prima facie evidence of a high risk medical event of disastrous proportion. For mobile applications the JBAIDS device is carried in the Bio sampling vehicles shown below.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Yesterday the BATF released a very flimsy finding which banned the import of surplus 5.45x39.5 into the United States, simultaneously the ATF declared that all other 5.45x39.5 ammunition would have to be examined to determine importability.

"ATF’s determination applies only to the Russian-made 7N6 ammunition
analyzed, not to all 5.45x39 ammunition. Ammunition of that caliber
using projectiles without a steel core would have to be independently
examined to determine their importability."

The purpose of this finding was to increase the availability of 5.45x39.5 ammo to Soviet breakaway states which are not members of NATO and hence do not use NATO caliber service rifles. As such, the ability to resupply these States with ammunition suitable for use in their service rifles is close to non existent given the outbreak of hostilities. ATF's finding keeps needed ammunition in theater and allows ammo suppliers to break contracts with US importers on ALL 5.45x39.5 ammunition.

We first alerted on Twitter to the outbreak of hostilities in the region of February 28th when Russian Special forces were video'd flying into UKRAINE. On March 4th we alerted on Twitter that a Russian Ammo ban was imminent. On March 6th, we blogged an alert about ammunition import rumors and a possible Contra Style war outbreak. As it turns out based on an ATF "Special Advisory" released yesterday April 7th, the ATF initiated these import actions on March 5th the day after our import alert and 5 days after Russia sent special forces into Crimea.

The ATF had to stretch really far to come up with a rationale for the ban; their rationale ended up being functionally equivalent to blaming someone for applying for a unicorn hunting license. Specifically, in 2011 someone inquired about importing a non-existent pistol from Poland. If ATF's rationale stands, there is no limit to what they can dream up next.

What all this ends up meaning is that the United States strongly expects Russian hostilities to increase and spread into their former Soviet Union members states. Given that 5.45x39.5 was specifically targeted, the list of States at risk of suspected hostility are:

Until Gaëtan Dugas or Other Flying Rats Catch Ebola, The North American Risk Remains Low

As we reported in a previous post, Ebola has finally gotten enough out of hand in Africa that the US Government is now willing to license an experimental Ebola vaccine based on the the Rabies virus.
The driver for this policy shift seems to be based on the unusual and some what rapid geographic spread of Ebola in Africa.

What we know of Ebola is that it generally has the same promulgation vectors as the AIDS virus, with the additive effect of being able to jump across species. Moreover, Ebola is much less fragile than the AIDS virus, it can be passed by causal, passing transient contact with body fluids. But EBOLA operates in a different infectious time domain compared to AIDS; Ebola can take as long as 1-2 months to kill and spread from time of infection.

Given the inter state spread of Ebola in Africa, if it continues to spread, it means that EBOLA has likely gotten a foot hold either the food supply or among philandering truck drivers. From that perspective, the threat to North American is Ebola hitching a ride into the continent via another proverbial Gaëtan Dugas. Dugas being AIDS' infamous flight attendant "patient zero".

However even if EBOLA made it into North America, it would have to hang around long enough to find a way into a native wild host before it could remain a continuous threat. So barring some mutation, Ebola does not seem to be a massive threat in North Americato anyone who does not intermingle with large populations of individuals who are disposed to transiently contacting bodily fluids on a frequent basis. And in this sense, frequent, means many times per day.

However if you fall into that category of "frequent", you might wish to consider using Chlorhexidine Gluconate aka Hibiclens as a risk mitigation item.